Limos & Razorbacks

Okay, the harrassment has begun by a dear sweet former co-worker and I'm not mentioning any names (Leisa) that I have not updated the ole blog in a while so here it is. To be quite honest, I've had some technical difficulty with my camera hooking up to my computer. For some reason, my computer isn't recognizing the camera so Michael burned my pictures on a CD for me so here we are!

The following is a post from a while back when I first realized my problem so now I've finally added the pictures to it.

Meredith was one of several top sellers of their fall fundraiser at their school and she got to go on a 15 minute limo ride (thank you to all of the "buyers" out there). I actually thought it would be a longer ride but nonetheless, she didn't know the difference so she had great time. Here in the large metropolis we live in we don't see many limosines around so I don't think she really even knew what to be excited about when I first told her that she would get to ride in one.

Another exciting event that we went to as a family was the Razorback basetball game when they played Missouri State. Michael's Uncle Alan received the tickets from a friend and wasn't going to be using them so he gave him to us (Thank you!) and they were on the first row behind the Razorback bench which was really neat. It wasn't a great view of the court but you could look up on the video screen for replays and the best part was seeing the team interact with the coach. The girls also got to see the mascots up close which was fun and Big Red gave the girls Big Red gum. I must say that one drawback of having two little girls is the fact that the mother always has to take the girls to the bathroom and when you have a bazillion stairs to climb in the basketball stadium it is quite exhausting and at some point I did think I was having a heart attack, not to say that I'm not in excellent physical condition. The positive was that I actually did lose weight that day from all of the exercise.

Halloween

Halloween was a busy day for us. Meredith had her first awards assembly at school and was inducted into the "ABC club" for being able to recognize all upper and lower case alphabet letters. She was so proud (and so were we).

That evening we headed to church for the annual "Trunk or Treat" in the parking lot which was a lot of fun. After we left church I took the girls to a few houses on our street and as expected they got tons of candy. Probably most of you already know this but Alli absolutely loves candy and basically all things sweet so she was all about this trick or treating thing. Meredith likes it but isn't as focused on the candy. Here are some pictures of the girls. Meredith was Belle from Beauty & the Beast and Alli was Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. I have also included a picture of Meredith & Alli with their cousins Will & Zach. Will was James the Train from "Thomas the Train" and Zach was a baby scarecrow.

Alli turns 3 !!

The big day finally arrived and Alli turned 3 years old on October 20th. We had a great little party for her and the weather really cooperated. We rented a Princess bounce around for all of the little cousins to play in and they had a big time. The actual theme of the party was "Little People" and that's as in Fisher Price not as in vertically challenged human beings (I think that's politically correct). Anyway, Confectionately Yours did a great job on the cake and it was delicious as usual. We had all of the relatives over from Broken Arrow and this area and had hot dogs, potato salad, etc.

Alli had a tremendous time and loved all of her gifts and eventually I will get the thank you cards sent, I promise. I'm kind of afraid to say this but I really think I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as she was a bit more challenging than my oldest as in more strong willed, stubborn, etc. She is getting easier to take out to eat and to the store which is so nice (however, I still prefer to go alone to the grocery store since it is twice as fast so don't get any ideas Michael). She is such a delight and just as you are about to pull your hair out with her she just knows when to come up and say "I love you mama" which goes a long way. I love you too Alli!

Here We Come Branson!

From October 12 through the 17th we were rebels and took Meredith out of school that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and spent time in Branson with Michael's parents, Tom & Patty along with his sister Becky and her husband Patrick along with their kids (our nephews) Will and Zach. We did have a great time. We figured Meredith could catch up on her kindergarten studies and we could also avoid the large crowds on vacation as well. Our trip consisted of visiting a Children's Science Museum in Springfield, hanging out at Branson Landing, going to Celebration City and seeing a show on the Branson Belle. All of the kids seem to have a great time too. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

On this day, the girls' cousins, Carlee & Cydnee, and Aunt Carrie along with Papa O. made the drive over for Meredith's soccer game. They came over a little early to play before the big game which was fun. Here are a few pics of the afternoon.

Saturday, October 6th

Let me tell ya, the girls had a big day on 10-6. First of all, Meredith played her buddies Katie and Grayson from church in a soccer game in the morning. Meredith's team, the Gators, started out strong but seemed to get tired and outplayed by the other team, the Sharks. Since we don't keep score I can't tell you that but they all did seem to have a great time. I was surprised because instead of Meredith and Katie playing aggressively against each other they were playing nice and I think were afraid to take it from each other. It was pretty cute. At one of the kickoffs we saw Katie putting her fists up at Meredith like she was really gonna get her. Another highlight of the game was that Grayson scored his first goal of the season and was pretty pumped about that. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

The next thing the girls and I did was head to the Neumeier (sp?) pumpkin patch where the girls each picked a pumpkin and had their faces painted. This has become a little tradition of ours during the Fall and the girls just love it. It's a small pumpkin patch but it really suits their fancy.

Sept. 30th Weekend - Football Games

Well, it's been a little while since I've posted anything so here it goes. The last weekend in September we took a road trip to Broken Arrow to take the girls to their first college football game (TU). We thought taking the girls to a TU game would be a good way to go for the first one because it's not near as big or as loud as a Razorback game since Meredith is not very fond of loud atmospheres. We also took Muffin on her first big road trip there as well (to my mom & dad's house, not to the game). So we leave on Saturday around lunchtime (after Meredith's soccer game) and get to my parents house about 2 p.m. or so. All is going well until I feel Alli's head around 4 p.m. or so and noticed she had a fever. So, my little Alli got to stay with my parents while we took Meredith to the game. We really did feel bad leaving her but she's probably not to the age yet where she really understands the whole thing and she just would have wanted to climb the bleachers which would have led to her getting hurt or throwing a tantrum so instead she got ice cream with Grandma & Papa. Anyway, we all had fun at the game and it was perfect weather and we left at halftime because we were all tired. TU ended up winning so all was good. I do remember a day when I would have died before leaving at halftime but those days are over. I do not have a picture because I intentionally left my camera in the car because I didn't want to lug it to the game. Believe it or not, I did not forget it.

So, instead of a picture of Meredith at the game I have a picture of Will at his first Razorback game that Patrick took him to. Patrick lugged in his camera so alas we have a picture! Let me tell ya, my nephew Will has a special talent and that is sleeping wherever and whenever he is tired. He slept through the whole first half of the game! Can you believe it? Any of you that have been to a Razorback game know that this is incredible with the loud band, crowd, pig sooies, etc. One of my favorite stories of Will sleeping is that of his time in Wal-Mart. When Becky was shopping Will fell asleep and I believe she had to prop him up with either paper towels, napkins, or toilet paper or something from the paper family. You get my drift. I think I could only dream of Alli falling asleep while we are shopping or at a game or basically anywhere besides the car or her bed (with me beside her, of course).

Back to Alli. She was still running a fever on Sunday and then proceeded to vomit (tmi?) Sunday night and her fever went back down on Monday. I guess at least she is scheduling her illnesses around Mother's Day Out days. That's a positive.